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Bill to let fishermen off lobster wait list gets hearing

Lawmakers on Tuesday started considering a proposal to grant lobster licenses to dozens of people who have been on the waiting list for years.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Lawmakers on Tuesday started considering a proposal to grant lobster licenses to dozens of people who have been on the waiting list for years.

Maine uses a waiting list system to allow new people into its lucrative lobster fishery, and critics of the system have complained that it takes too long to yield licenses. State lawmakers have proposed granting people licenses if they've been on the list for 10 years or more.

Several lobstermen and individuals on the wait list attended a hearing Tuesday at the Statehouse.

Democratic Rep. Joyce McCreight, the presenter of the bill, said state data shows 274 people on the list awaiting new licenses.

That includes Joshua King, a deck hand in Bar Harbor who said he has been on the waiting list for a lobster license for nine years now.

"We don't want to clear the list; we don't think it should be wide open," King said. "We just want a reasonable shot."

But Republican Rep. Will Tuell questioned whether McCreight's proposal could have that "unintended" consequence.

"Do you think we would essentially be opening the door to letting the whole list in?" Tuell said.

The bill drew criticism from some members of the fishery, who expressed concern about letting new people into the business when it is facing possible new restrictions to protect rare whales. Julie Eeaton of the Maine Lobstering Union said its members largely agree that decisions about wait lists should continue to be left to lobster zone councils.

"Fishing is not a fair occupation or industry, and I don't think making it fair is the way to go," said Matt Gilley, a 34 year-old lobster license holder in Harpswell.

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